- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Features How it compares
- Our Analysis Technical breakdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Intel Core i7 3960X
- 3.3 GHz
- Hexa core
- Unlocked
Released November, 2011
Rated 80% by by PCMag (Nov, 2011)This means, for example, that when Intel's Hyper-Threading technology is fully engaged, you have 12 processing threads at your disposal; given that the Core i7-3960X's base clock is 3.3GHz, you're looking at some serious performance just from that.
Conclusion Check out the Intel Core i7 3960X
 | Performance | ||
Overall performance using all cores | |||
| Core i7 3960X |
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| Core i7 3770K |
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| Core i5 3570K |
| ||
| Ingredients: Cinebench R10 32-bit, GeekBench and x264 HD 4.0 (Pass 1) | |||
 | Single-core Performance | ||
Performance of an individual core | |||
| Core i7 3960X |
| ||
| Core i7 3770K |
| ||
| Core i5 3570K |
| ||
| Ingredients: Cinebench R10 32-bit (1-core), Passmark (Single Core) and x264 HD 4.0 (Pass 2) | |||
 | Overclocking | ||
How much speed can you get out of the processor? | |||
| Core i7 3960X |
| ||
| Core i7 3770K |
| ||
| Core i5 3570K |
| ||
| Ingredients: Passmark (Overclocked), Unlocked, Maximum Overclocked Clock Speed (Air) and 2 more | |||
 | Value | ||
Are you paying a premium for performance? | |||
| Core i7 3960X |
| ||
| Core i7 3770K |
| ||
| Core i5 3570K |
| ||
| Ingredients: Performance Per Dollar | |||
| 9.3 CPUBoss Score |
Performance Real world tests of Intel Core i7 3960X
3D Mark 11 (Physics)
Core i7 3960X by PCMag (Nov, 2011)It drove the Futuremark 3DMark 11 to confident success by earning 36.5 frames per second (fps) in its daunting physics test.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)You can see some pretty good scaling here as there is a 8550 3DMark difference (59%) between the Intel Core i7-3960X and the AMD FX-4100.
Cinebench R10 32-Bit
Core i7 3960X by PCMag (Nov, 2011)It proved to excel at both single- and multithreaded performance, by garnering superb scores of 1.57 and 10.56 respectively in our two CineBench R11.5 tests.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)For example, in Cinebench we got a score of 11.46 and with this overclock we were hitting 13.57!
Passmark
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Benchmark Results: The CPU benchmark results in 3DMark Vantage are impressive looking as the Intel Core i7-3960 Sandy Bridge-E processor dominates all of the others in the chart by a good distance.
Features Key features of the Intel Core i7 3960X
clock speed
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)With a base clock of 3.3GHz and a top end Turbo clock speed of 3.9GHz, we are shocked that it has a TDP of just 130W!
Core i7 3960X by PCMag (Nov, 2011)Toss in version 2.0 of Intel's Turbo Boost technology from Sandy Bridge, which provides a speed supercharge whenever you're not maxing out your core usage, and you have a quick entrée to 3.9GHz—no overclocking required.
turbo clock speed
Core i7 3960X by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)The official numbers give the Core i7-3960X a nominal frequency of 3.33GHz, with a top Turbo speed of 3.9GHz.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Speaking of turbo mode, the Intel Core i7-3960X runs 600MHz above its rated 3300MHz base clock if 1-2 cores are active!
L2 cache
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)A 256-KB shared instruction/data mid-level (L2) cache for each core.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Many of our readers might be wondering why buy the 3960X for $990 when for roughly half the price you can get nearly the same processor minus the cache (we are certain you can overclock it 100MHz).
L3 cache
Core i7 3960X by EmTea (Jan, 2012)Just looking at the published specifications on intel's website, you'll find the two identical except for the 100 mhz difference and a 3MB larger L3 cache.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)It has less cache (12MB) and a 100MHz base/turbo clock, but is still a fully unlocked part.
overclocked clock speed (air)
Core i7 3960X by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)Most impressive is the additional overclocking headroom Intel has delivered over the old six-core chip.
Core i7 3960X by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Intel has also introduced a new feature on their DX79SI 'Siler' motherboard called 'overclocking assistant' that will help novices when it comes to overclocking!
overclocked clock speed (water)
Core i7 3960X by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)It also brings a healthy improvement in overclocking headroom.
Core i7 3960X by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)More specifically, it's a question of whether you're talking about stock frequencies or running overclocked.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
15 MB -
Maximizes usage of each CPU core -
AES, AVX, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, Supplemental SSE3 -
Built-in -
An unlocked multiplier allows for easier overclocking -
12 -
3.3 GHz -
LGA 2011 -
23,254 -
12,802 -
65,536 MB -
10,830 -
8,362.3 -
6 -
31,491 -
126.8 fps -
2.5 MB/core -
288 -
4.82 GHz -
7,065.9 -
5,298 -
2,015 -
325 -
272 -
254 -
4.95 GHz
cons
-
A separate graphics adapter is required -
176.73W -
211W -
2.67 pt/$ -
0.33 MB/core -
184.84 $/year -
66.8 °C -
56.39 $/year -
Nov, 2011
Reviews Word on the street
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 |  Rated by 17 users at amazon.com Rated 80% by by EmTea (Jan, 2012) Rated 60% by by Mark---Tree (Jan, 2013) Rated 100% by by rubiel-diaz (Feb, 2012) |
Socket Type
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)We used the Zalman CNPS12X for overclocking as it had the best thermal performance of all the LGA2011 coolers that we had available at the time.
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)This game is only threaded for what looks like six cores and that is the reason that all the 6-8 core processors were at the top of the chart.
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Intel has not announced pricing on this water cooler, but we expect it to be in the $80-$100 range.
Socket
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Benchmark Results: The Intel Core i7-3960X finished the POV-Ray benchmark in 129.48 seconds and was faster than any other processor that we have ever benchmarked.
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by PCMag (Nov, 2011)The Core i7-2600K was a reasonable seven seconds behind the Core i7-3960X in Photoshop (2:54) and just a stone's throw in its wake on our Futuremark PCMark 7 full-system benchmark (3,649 versus 3,708).
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)The Intel X79 platform only supports LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors and those processors have 40 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 links capable of 8.0 GT/s, and 4 lanes of DMI2/PCI Express 2.0 interface with a peak transfer rate of 5.0.
Multicore
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)There's no mention of it in Intel's official documentation, but the image Intel has provided of the new Intel Core i7-3960X's die makes one thing perfectly clear: this is an eight-core PC processor with two cores disabled.
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)The explanation, of course, is that the Core i7-3960X is actually an eight-core processor with a pair of cores disabled.
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by Tech Radar (Nov, 2011)AMD's new pseudo eight-core FX processors are well behind the old Gulftown Core i7 processors on performance.
Performance
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)The Intel Core i7-3960X was remarkably fast on multi-threaded benchmarks and that is very good news for power users that really tax their systems with workloads like video encoding and decoding.
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Benchmark Results:We heard that the Intel Core i7-3960X wasn't going to make a huge difference in gaming benchmarks, so we were shocked to see the CPU at the top of the chart for the Resident Evil 5 DirectX 10 benchmark!
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by PCMag (Nov, 2011)This isn't that much of a surprise; Intel has a habit of leaving it off its high-end chips, undoubtedly assuming—quite correctly, we'd wager—that anyone able and willing to drop a grand on a processor will also have the resources and wherewithal to spring for a discrete video card.
Benchmark
Intel Core i7 3960X | Rated 80% by by EmTea (Jan, 2012)Currently it is the fastest available consumer CPU, you can search many reviews and benchmarks and they'll all tell you the same.
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)The Intel Core i7-3960X really eats this benchmark up and if you do a ton of video editing this is clearly the processor architecture that you need!
Intel Core i7 3960X | by Legit Reviews (Nov, 2011)Benchmark Results: The Intel Core i7-3960X also dominates the single core CPU benchmark!
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Intel Core i7 3770K OK SysMark 2007 overall score 3770K vs 3960X Extreme Edition |
 | 2 | Intel Core i5 3570K Low idle power consumption Core i5 3570K vs Core i7 3960X |
 | 3 | Intel Core i7 990X 2-way tie: Low typical power consumption 990X Extreme Edition vs 3960X Extreme Edition |
 | 4 | AMD FX 8350 High clock speed AMD FX 8350 vs Intel Core i7 3960X |
 | 5 | Intel Core i7 3930K 7-way tie: Is hyperthreaded 3930K vs 3960X Extreme Edition |
 | 6 | Intel Core i7 3970X Good 3DMark11 physics score 3970X Extreme Edition vs 3960X Extreme Edition |
 | 7 | Intel Xeon E7-8870 Lots of l3 cache Xeon E7-8870 vs Core i7 3960X |
 | 8 | Intel Xeon E5-2690 OK Maximum Operating Temperature Xeon E5-2690 vs Core i7 3960X |
New duel?
Let the battle continue or dare to compare.
